As everyone counts down to the 2015 NFL Draft, one major piece of business needed to be settled and got done on Tuesday evening - releasing of the 2015 regular season schedules.

For the Houston Texans they will open their 2015 season at home on September 13 against the Kansas City Chiefs at noon.

“First game, you look at the first game. Kansas City is a very tough opponent and not an opponent that we’re real familiar with," Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said. "They’re not, obviously, a division opponent and they’re not somebody that we play every year, so really I look at the first game. Basically from there, you’re looking at where the bye occurs, where some travel may occur. If you’re going from the East Coast to the West Coast. Actually, we don’t really travel to the West Coast on this schedule, so the travel doesn’t seem to be too bad. Right now, looking at the schedule, we’re all excited about it.”

Most notable games for the Texans in 2015, include the return of former Texan wide receiver Andre Johnson on October 8 on Thursday Night Football. The other primetime game for the Texans is a November 16 meeting with the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football on the road.

Getting a pair of primetime games is neat for the players, O'Brien said, because you are the only game on that night and the entire country is watching.

"Every game is important. I mean, in this league, it’s not like baseball where you play 162 games," O'Brien said. "It’s not like basketball where you play 82 games. You have 16 one-game seasons, so every game is vitally important to the success of your season. I know that when you play a Monday night game, you play a Thursday night game, or if you play a Sunday night game, those games are very, very special in the fact that you’re really the only game on TV that night. The whole country is watching that game and I know our guys get really fired up to play those games.”

Other notable games include a Week 14 meeting with Bill O'Brien's former team and defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.

For O'Brien, this is a team he is very familiar with, considering he spent five seasons, 2007-2011, on the Patriots coaching staff before taking the head coaching job at Penn State.

Having spent time with the team in the past doesn't really matter, O'Brien said, because these teams change year-in and year out.

"The Patriots will be a different team than they were last year," he said. "We’re a different team than we were last year. Certainly, the Patriots have changed quite a bit since I was there which was almost four years ago. I don’t think we get an advantage there. For us, it’s just a huge challenge to have the Super Bowl Champion coming in here in December for a home game right here in front of the Houston crowd. Hopefully, it’s a great football game and we’re going to do everything we can to win the game, but it’s a huge challenge for us.”

As for his message to the fans, O'Brien is expecting the same kind of home-field advantage they got in 2014 when teams came to play inside NRG Stadium.

“I think the big thing is again, in my first year here in Houston, one of the things that stood out to me was our home crowd advantage," O'Brien said. "We have the best home crowd in the National Football League. I’ve been to every stadium. We’re loud. We’re into the game. We’re there early and we stay until the end. That’s really what we’re asking our fans to continue to do. Our players really appreciate the support. Our coaches appreciate the support. We know that we’re playing in front of the best crowd in the NFL and that means a lot to us.”